Salvadoran archbishop demands transparency about summit on ´Youth and Development´

San Salvador, El Salvador, Oct 14, 2008 / 03:16 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle has called on officials to be transparent about the issues that will be discussed at the 18th Latin American Summit of Heads of State and Government, which will take place October 29-31 in San Salvador on the subject, “Youth and Development.”

“I invite the Government to publish as soon as possible the totality of the documents that will be adopted,” so that they can be made known to the public, the archbishop said, warning that there is concern that “some of the documents that have been leaked are an attack on natural law,” the Salvadoran Constitution and “the moral values and principles that the vast majority of Salvadorans consider important.”

The archbishop said he was worried about “the lack of transparency regarding the commitments that are supposed to be made at the next Latin American Summit on Youth,” commitments which President Antonio Saca has pledged to sign.

He pointed out that many institutions that work with young people have requested to see the documents that will be adopted, “but they have not received them.”

“In response to request for the documents, official sources have referred us to the Summit’s website, but the information there is not complete,” the archbishop said. “Why don’t they want to make all of the documents public? What do they have to hide?” he asked.